The Cheat asked me to pinch hit for him in recapping tonight's game, so let's get to it: Carlos Quentin was  the White Sox offense tonight, bashing two home runs, including a walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth, to lead the Sox to a 3-2 win over the Angels at the Cell.  Quentin, who was three for three on the night (along with a HBP), drove in the first two Sox runs on a blast to left center in the third inning that scored Alexei Ramirez.  The homers were Q's 13th and 14th of the season, which move him into sole possession of the American League lead.  Scott Linebrink, who retired the Halos without a hit in relief of Jose Contreras in the ninth, got the win.  But Contreras was No Way, Jose of old: eight innings, two runs (on a Gary Matthews, Jr., homer), three hits, 10 strikeouts and no walks, and that doesn't even tell the whole story.  His splitter was virtually unhittable.  No one even made contact with it through six innings and no one got a hit on it all night.  Tonight's performance brought back memories of his seventeen-game winning streak.

Aside from the Matthews homer, the downsides (and who wants to focus on them after a great win like this?) were few and far between.  The Sox didn't hit all that well, garnering only six hits, but that was really a function of John Lackey being superb, except when facing Quentin.  Orlando Cabrera did get thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple when the ball got away from Sean Rodriguez on the relay.  But really, that's about it.

The win allows the Sox to maintain their 2.5 game lead on the second-placee Twinkies, who also won today, and it reduces their Magic Number to 111.  Check out  White Sox Magic Number Update to keep track of the Sox progress on their march to the A.L. Central crown.) 

Speaking of numbers, here's a little feature we like to call "We do the math, so you don't have to":

• The all-time record against the Angels is all-square at 329-329
• The Sox are now 5-2 in games decided in the last at bat
• They're 4-0 when tied after the eigth inning
• The team is 23-8 when getting a quality start
• Tonight's win improves the record to 17-12 in errorless games
• The Sox are 24-10 in games when they hit a homer
• The Good Guys are 12-5 in multihomer games
• They're 18-6 when scoring first
• The record is 21-7 when holding the opponent to three runs or fewer
• Finally, the team is 21-4 when outhitting the opposition

Cheat, thanks for letting me pinch hit, and Go Sox!